Play the game and not the occasion – Keagan Dolly

By Velile Mnyandu
8th March 2024

Kaizer Chiefs captain Keagan Dolly says he told his fellow teammates that you don’t play the occasion, you play the game.

With more than 90,000 spectators expected to fill up the FNB stadium on Saturday, for this much anticipated iconic fixture of South African football – the Soweto Derby.

READ: Cavin Johnson: Beating Orlando Pirates will help Kaizer Chiefs' CAF ambitions

The Amakhosi attacking midfielder believes - it’s important that the players don’t get caught up in the excitement and the adrenaline that comes with the derby.

Dolly says at the end of the day, the main focus is on the three points at stake.

''The build up to the derby is quite crazy and sometimes it can get the better of players, but I keep on telling the guys at Kaizer Chiefs that you don't play the occasion but you play the game - when you do that you become present on the day, and you focus on the game plan,'' said Dolly.

Before the Chiefs’ development product Wandile Duba scored his first goal at the professional level with a well-taken curling strike, the club had been struggling to find the back of the net in 2024.

Dolly says this was a very special goal not only for the youngster but for the team as well.

''It was very special for a youngster from the academy, getting his opportunity and scoring, and scoring a great goal, shows the hard work he's been putting at training,'' added Dolly.

Dolly, who hails from Westbury in Johannesburg, an area popularly known for gangsterism, and drugs knows all about the pressures of breaking into professional football at a young age.

The School of Excellence and Mamelodi Sundowns development product made his professional football debut at the age of 19 at Ajax Cape Town (Cape Town Spurs). He’s got some sound advice for Duba.

''For him is just to keep on making sacrifices and sticking to what he knows best to achieve his goals,'' he concluded.

Dolly, a former Montpellier attacker who is now in the last few months of his current contract with Chiefs, has had his fair share of struggles this season.

Injuries and loss of form have characterized the 31-year-old’s 2023/2024 season so far, but it’s the burden of being a leader that’s constantly reminding him of playing a major role in working towards ending Amakhosi’s nine-year trophy drought.